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Munitions
"Munitions" was the eleventh episode of TUGS. Plot The towing of Naval munition vessels is a very important job indeed. One such vessel in particular, a tramper named Kraka-Toa, is being towed by Hercules. All is going well until Bluenose, the officious naval tug, comes along. Uppity Bluenose says that Hercules may not continue on until he has made an inspection. Hercules steams off, finished with the run, ignoring him. Hercules speaks to O.J., who tells him how munitions and fuel are being loaded aboard the same ship, which is very dangerous. Bluenose comes by, still being overbearingly bossy, before moving on to bothering the Fire Chief too. At the Star Pier, Captain Star informs the tugs they will be carrying munitions for the Navy the Z Stacks having the explosives! Warrior is given garbage detail, Top Hat is to transport car floats, Ten Cents is sent to Lucky’s Yard to pick up oil to take to the Naval yard and Sunshine is to pick up Mighty Moe, to take home. Captain Star thanks Big Mac for winning the steel contract, and tells him to collect the last girder barge. The Z Stacks, meanwhile, are picking up the explosives, which are to be delivered to the Naval tramper, Krakatoa. Ten Cents, now with the oil barge, is ordered about by Bluenose, who says to move out of the way. Bluenose purposely scrapes the barge, which makes Ten Cents very cross indeed. Night falls. Big Mickey the crane is transferring the munitions to Kraka toa. Bluenose arrives, and starts his rot. He says the barge which is being unloaded should be moved, which would be a very wrong thing to do. Bluenose listens to no-one, and ends up bumping the barge hard, disturbing the munitions, resulting in a fire starting. The tugs present make sure to stay out of the way, but Bluenose can’t because his engine has failed, from shock. Ten Cents bravely tows him out of the danger zone. The fire continues, explosions going off all the while. Big Mickey is caused to collapse by the blasts. Then Kraka toa catches fire. Further away, Top Hat is towing Frank and Eddie, the rail floats. They see the lights in the sky. Eddie thinks there is “a dockside celebration”. Top Hat says, “If there was a party, I would have been invited.” Suddenly, the Fire Chief rushes by, on the way to the fire. Puffa, the steam powered tank engine, hasn’t noticed the goings-on, and is right in the way. The tugs shout and whistle to warn him, and he makes it out of there just in the nick of time. But, suddenly, the Star line oil barge catches fire and Ten Cents tries to jumps in to move it, but is this too risky a move? Nearby, Warrior and Lord Stinker, the garbage barge, see the lights in the sky too. Warrior leaves Lord Stinker, and rushes to the scene. The Fire Chief has now finally arrived, ordering everyone to stay back. O.J. informs how it was Bluenose’s fault. The Fire Chief tells Sunshine to douse the flames with the fire barge. Ten Cents continues with the oil barge, to push it out to sea. Warrior arrives, and is told by the Fire Chief to use his fire hose. Warrior goes to do just that. Sunshine bravely fights the fire, while Warrior is hit square in the face by a bit of debris! The Fire Chief insists he move out, but Warrior sticks to his place, saying how he is looking after Puffa, who has been badly stung. The Fire Chief understands. He then tells Zorran to help him with the other fire barge in an attempt to save Kraka toa and Zorran agrees . Then there is a large explosion. Sunshine is worried Ten Cents was in the blast. The Fire Chief relieves Zorran and then Kraka toa sinks into the water with one last blast out of her smokestack. But thanks to Sunshine and Warrior, the fire did not spread. Top Hat arrives, rather too late. The Z Stacks then make fun of him. The next morning, the tugs think Ten Cents did not make it. But before they could salute the brave tug, a familiar toot is heard in the near distance and then appears Ten Cents! He was covered stack to bumper in soot! He explained how the oil barge exploded, and how he could not make it due to the water in his engine. But thankfully, Grampus rescued him. And with that, Grampus, laughing, tows a disgraced Bluenose (still stunned) away. Then Captain Star gives a lesson on how fires are dangerous while Grampus is still hauling Bluenose out of the port. Characters *Ten Cents *Big Mac *OJ *Top Hat *Warrior *Hercules *Sunshine *Grampus *Bluenose *Big Mickey *Zorran *Zebedee *Zak *Fire Tug *Frank and Eddie *Lord Stinker *Captain Star *Kraka-Toa (does not speak) *Puffa (does not speak) *Zip (cameo) *Coast Guard (cameo) *Jack the Grappler (cameo) *Zug (cameo) *Izzy Gomez (cameo) *Johnny Cuba (model cameo) *Mighty Moe (mentioned) *Captain Zero (mentioned) Trivia *First appearance of Bluenose. *This episode features the deaths of Kraka-Toa & Big Mickey (Although he is said to have survived in the television version, as he had fallen into shallow water). *The scene of the Star Tugs going to do their jobs is cut from the TV Version. *Stock footage from Jinxed is used. *A lot of scenes are not included in the TV Version, such as Zorran saying: "Yeah! Nobody tells Big Mickey what to do!" but they are included in the VHS Version. *The TV Version has Captain Star narrating some scenes. These scenes are not in the VHS Version. *Captain Star has two alternate ending messages: 'VHS Version: ' The accident was caused by a few hasty words, and bad tempers. Orders may be orders, but they don't supersede common sense. Bluenose was right in his way, as were Ten Cents and O.J. right in their's. But common sense from all three would have prevented the fire starting. Always respect fire. If you don't, it will destroy you, your surroundings, and your friends. 'TV Version: ' That all happened because of a few hasty words and bad tempers. Orders may be orders, but they blinded Bluenose from using simple common sense, and from keeping level headed. So a tiny incident grew into a big disaster, and the old dock was left in ruins. We should have the greatest respect for fire. Just think what might have happened to Ten Cents and his friends, just because Bluenose didn't." *Former TUGS modelmaker Jeremy King was asked by SiF some details about filming this episode; "Ross King supervising the explosion of lots of wax and balsa scenery for about 4 weeks. Fireballs were petrol and rubber dust mixed with black powder. Terry over-cranking the camera as much as he could." He did not give much explanation about refurbishing Big Mickey, but it does imply Mickey survived his fall in the episode. When asked if the pyrotechnics were a problem in the studio, he replied No. We opened the doors to clear the air and kept going! *In the VHS version, Captain Star congratulates Big Mac on winning the steel contract. This happened in the previous episode, High Tide. *In the TV version, Captain Star (as the narrator) mentions that landing in shallow water saved Big Mickey. This is not present in the VHS version. Goofs * During the fire scenes, the Fire Tug was wearing some of Warriors faces. * A model of a 1934 Ford is seen at the Munitions Factory, despite the fact the series is set in the 1920's. * After the fire starts. O.J. is seen backing up, but in a later scene, he is seen backing up again. * When Top Hat says "Me?!?! How could you suggest such a thing?" his monocle falls off. Video releases Munitions was first released on VHS in 1988 by Castle Vision and was released along with the episode 4th of July. Munitions was rereleased on VHS in 1990 by Castle Vision along with 4th of July to match the style of the of video release covers. It was released a third time in 1990 by Castle Vision under the Playbox range of videos with the same episodes. Image:Munitions & 4th of July UK VHS 1988.jpg|''Munitions'' and 4th of July UK video (1988) Image:Munitions & 4th of July UK VHS 1990.jpg|''Munitions'' and 4th of July UK video (1990) Image:Munitions & 4th of July UK VHS Playbox.jpg|''Munitions'' and 4th of July Playbox UK video (1990) Image:Munitions Finnish.jpg|Finnish VHS Cover Image:TUGS Japan 1.jpg|Japanese Munitions/Regatta/Warrior VHS Gallery Munitions7.png Zorran.png Hercules3.JPG FilthyTenCents.JPG|Ten Cents covered in soot Hercules2.JPG Munitions.jpg|The morning after the incident Bluenose.JPG BluenoseandGrampus.JPG|Grampus tows away Bluenose Fire Barge Sunshine.png Fire Barge Zorran.png Category:Episodes